Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Victoria Nourse

J.D. Seminar 1121 | 3 credit hours

This seminar has two aims: first, to educate students about congressional procedure (akin to civil procedure or administrative procedure) and, second, to teach students how to apply this knowledge to real statutory interpretation cases. Although legal research courses introduce students to legislative history, because they are taught little about congressional procedure, their ability to do competent legislative history may be limited. In this course, students will learn how to research legislative history in ways that make the process easier, more rigorous, and more consistent with Congress’s own rules. The final project, presented to the class, will be a completed legislative history of a complex statute involved in a contemporary legal case or cases, accompanied by a paper critiquing the use of legislative history in a particular case or set of cases. This class meets the advanced writing requirement.